The Vampire Chronicles consists of a series of wonderful novels written by American author Anne Rice. The books?revolve mainly around vampire and French aristocrat Lestat de Lioncourt, who was born into darkness in the 18th century. The stories follow Lestat, his past and?the impact his decisions in life has made on other vampires and humans around him. ? Anne Rice's vampires differ from traditional vampires as they are sensitive and passionate, thus making them quite receptive for humanlike emotions and torment. These emotions however make them interesting, extremely sensual and perhaps a bit too human for vampire standards, but ever so entertaining. Anne Rice also made the, in my opinion perfect?decision to disregard ?the well known vampire ability to transform into bats, making?her vampires?a bit more credible and convincing in my book. ? They do however, like conventional vampires, posses superhuman senses, strength and speed and the older vampires develop, besides the ability to fly, special powers, which they themselves call gifts. ? Anne Rice did a wonderful job in creating an amazingly detailed?world around her vampires,?making them all interesting and, in a way, dramatically tragic. Her character Lestat de Lioncourt is a wonderful persona who you can't help but like, despite all his shortcomings and evil deeds. ? The first novel in the series, Interview with the Vampire (1976), was?adapted to film in 1994 and was a box office hit. It stars Tom Cruise as Lestat, Brad Pitt as?Louis de Pointe du Lac, a young Kirsten Dunst as vampire-child Claudia and Antonio Banderas as Armand. I've never been?a really big fan of Tom Cruise (I never fell victim to the Top Gun craze back then)?but lately I'm enjoying his performances (MI-III) and I loved his presentation as Lestat, as he characterizes him wonderfully. ? Parts of the?second book, The Vampire Lestat and the third, Queen of the Damned were merged together in the 2002 movie adaptation The Queen of the Damned, which stars Stuart Townsend as Lestat and now deceased Aaliyah as Akasha. The movie received some heavy criticism, especially because?Anne Rice's?fans?didn't like two major books?merged together in?merely?150 minutes?of film. Despite these negative critics the movie?became a success, which was said to be primarily due to Aaliyah's unfortunate death 6 months prior to the release of the movie. ? I don't particularly like the movie Queen of the Damned, so I won't be extensively reviewing it here. The movie was shallow, rushed and basically a joke if you're an Anne Rice fan. They were about to lose the movie rights?to Anne Rice once more so they were in a hurry to slam 600 pages in a workable script. And it shows. If you merely like to see Stuart Townsend without shirt or Aaliyah excessively curling her?metal bra?all over the place, then?this is the movie for you. If you're a fan of the books and loved the complex world Anne Rice created for?her vampires, stay away, this movie will only give you headaches. ?
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